Ambitious plays performed at the same theater, Neal Bell’s “Monster” (left, with John Zdrojeski behind Joe Varca) and Caryl Churchill’s “Serious Money” (with Megan Byrne and Alex Draper) deal with hubris in different contexts, but fall short of their potential because of uneven acting and stale staging. Photo:

(Stan Barouh (2))

Ambitious plays performed at the same theater, Neal Bell’s “Monster” (left, with John Zdrojeski behind Joe Varca) and Caryl Churchill’s “Serious Money” (with Megan Byrne and Alex Draper) deal with hubris in different contexts, but fall short of their potential because of uneven acting and stale staging. (
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The most infuriating thing about “Serious Money,” Caryl Churchill’s 1987 satire of financial manipulations, is how damnably relevant it remains.

The play was a flop in its 1988 Broadway production, which proved — along with “Enron,” more than two decades later — that high-paying audiences aren’t particularly interested in dramatic explorations of their stock portfolios. It’s now being given its first major local revival by the enterprising PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project), running in rep with “Monster,” Neal Bell’s 2002 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

That both plays feature monsters — in different guises — is the main link between the two shows, which both receive uneven executions. Their different casts feature a mixture of professional actors and recent graduates of Vermont’s Middlebury College.

Certainly, “Serious Money,” with its blend of Restoration comedy and Brechtian influences — much of the text is delivered in rhyming couplets, and the actors occasionally break into vigorous song and dance — is a fiendishly difficult play.

Set just after the Margaret Thatcher-era deregulation of British markets that came to be known as the “Big Bang,” it features dozens of characters and convoluted, intersecting story lines. Principal among them is a murder mystery of sorts, with a young stock trader (Tara Giordano) investigating the death of her brother (Mat Nakitare), who was selling insider information. She becomes far more interested in finding out what happened to his payouts than in solving his murder.

Along the way, we’re introduced to a rogues’ gallery of financial types, including a British corporate raider (Alex Draper) and his American co-conspirator (David Barlow), an unscrupulous trader (Megan Byrne) and a rich Peruvian businesswoman (Jeanne LaSala Taylor) with ties to drug traffickers.

Director Cheryl Faraone keeps the action moving at a frenetic, almost circus-like pace — there’s even an energetically mimed fox hunt. But her efforts are defeated by the wildly uneven performances and the sheer density of the goings-on.

There’s a lot less doing and a lot more talking in “Monster,” which includes endless philosophical ruminations and debates among its hyper-articulate characters — even the Creature can’t seem to shut up. Jim Petosa’s static production relies heavily on clichéd, spooky sound effects, with much of the action seemingly occurring during a windstorm. John Zdrojeski’s Monster suggests less a revived corpse than a male model badly in need of eye cream and exfoliant.

Both shows benefit from Hallie Zieselman’s sparse but clever set designs, including chandeliers made of liquor bottles and telephones for “Serious Money,” and ominous glass cases filled with mysterious specimens for “Monster.”

But despite the obvious creative ambition on display, these productions are heavy lifting.